- (in golf) the number of shots a good player should need to complete a course or to hit the ball into a particular hole
- a par five hole
- Par for the course is 72.
- over/under par She went round the course in three under (= three strokes less than) par.
Extra ExamplesTopics Sports: ball and racket sportsc2- He finished four over par.
- a clever putt to save par
- (also par value)(business) the value that a share in a company had originally
- at par to be redeemed at par
- above/below par The company's bonds are trading well above par.
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘equality of value or standing’): from Latin, ‘equal’, also ‘equality’. The golf term dates from the late 19th cent.
Idioms
See par in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybelow/under par
- less well, good, etc. than is usual or expected
- I may take tomorrow off if I’m still feeling under par.
- Teaching in some subjects has been well below par.
- I feel slightly below par today.
be par for the course
- (disapproving) to be just what you would expect to happen or expect somebody to do in a particular situation synonym norm
- Starting early and working long hours is par for the course in this job.
on a par/level with somebody/something
- as good, bad, important, etc. as somebody/something else
- This place is on a par with the best French restaurants.
up to par
- as good as usual or as good as it should be
- I didn’t think her performance was up to par.
- Your work is not up to par.
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par